Invention
of the Hand-Held Calculator

1967

It's All
in the Marketing

Scientists might come up with great ideas for new technology,
but it doesn't make much of a difference unless manufacturers start
using the ideas. In the case of the integrated
chip, industry was pretty slow on the uptake. The new chip, with
its collection of transistors all made from a single crystal, could
miniaturize practically anything -- if only someone was interested.

To snag the world's attention, Texas Instruments needed
a marketing gimmick. They wanted a flashy product to showcase the
IC. A calculator seemed just the thing. In a mere two years, a TI
group including Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel, and led by Jack
Kilbydeveloped a calculator small
enough to be held in your hand. Just over six inches tall, this portable
calculator certainly surpassed the all-transistor calculator released
just a year earlier -- that calculator weighed 55 pounds and cost $2,500.